Apparatus for way-billing articles for shipment



(No Model.)

O. H. TI-IIEL. APPARATUS FOR WAY BILLING ARTICLES FOR SHIPMENT.

Patented Mar. 10,1891.

I f I W .NrrE TATES OTTO H. TI-IIEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR WAY-BILLING ARTICLES FOR SHIPMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,922, dated March 10, 1891.

Application filed October 14, 1890. Serial No. 368,084. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OTTO H. THIEL, of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Apparatus for Scripping and ay-Billing Articles for Shipment, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby short blank way-bills or slips of paper provided with horizontal lines for writing on and vertical columns with descriptive words or titles at the top maybe readily adjusted upon a long blank or sheet similarly ruled, when covered by a carbonized sheet, so that the rulings of the short blank may be brought to correspond with the rulings upon any portion of the long blank, in order to make a carbon copy on the long blank of matter written on the short blank and have the copy coincide with the rulings of the long blank. This object I have attained by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawin gs, in which Figure 1 shows a plan view of an apparatus for such purpose and of the manner of arranging the blanks or sheets upon the same. Fig. 2 is a central section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 S of Fig. 2, looking toward the right.

The apparatus proper, as in the present instance shown, consists of a base-board A, two guides a, forminga way or track on the base, a sliding piece or frame 13, adapted to slide back and forth upon such way, and a stop bar O, provided with arms 0, which are pivoted to the sliding piece so as to permit said stop-bar to be worked up and down and engage ratchet-bars a at each side for holding it in different positions on the base, there being a cord D and weight or other equivalent means for pulling the sliding piece against the ratchet. The spaces between the ratchetteeth are adapted to correspond with the horizontal lines E on the blanks, so that the different changes of position of the stop-bar relatively to the base will always correspond to some one of said lines.

A box or open-sided receptacle F is provided for holding the way -bills as made out. This box or receptacle is preferably attached to or made as a part of the sliding piece B.

The guides a may be attached directly to business for making out way-bills from the address and description as contained on the original packages to be shipped, and with the one writing required therefor to make also what is termed the scrip-sheets. As the work is now done the scrip-sheets are first made out from the description 011 the packages and the way-bills are made from the scrip-sheets,which requires that each be written separately. My method of doing the same at one writing can be understood from the operation of myinvention, which is as follows: One or more of the scrip-sheet blanks G is placed on the base A, with the upper edges against a stop, as g, and the left-hand side against one of the ratchet-bars a. The carbonized sheet H is then placed on the scripsheet, leaving the right-hand margin 9 of the latter uncovered by the carbon. The waybill blank I is then placed on the carbon with its upper edge against the stop-bar O, and its left-hand edge against the left ratchet-bar a. This will bring the horizontal lines E and the vertical column-lines of the bill into exact correspondence with those otthat part of the scrip-sheet which is covered by the bill-blank. The bill-blank does not reach over the margin g of the scrip-sheet, and as the horizontal lines thereon are used in writing,a checkmark, as shown at e, is made by the Writer carrying his pencil or pen onto the margin as he finishes each line, in order to distinguish the used from the unused lines. The ordinary bill-blanks contain five or six horizontal lines, being therebyadapted to receive the description of the usual number of from one to five packages carried at a single trip to each town or station. In starting the stopbar is so placed at the top of the scripsheet blank that the placing of the bill-blank with its upper edge against the stop-bar will bring the first line of the bill-blank over the first line of the scrip-sheet. After this line is filled the stop-bar would have to be moved one notch ahead to fill the first line of another bill-blank, and so on. It is contemplated thata large number of packages from different consignors to different consignees at different destinations will be brought haphazard to the bill-clerk, and that he should have, as at I, a supply of bill-blanks within easy reach. On receiving or taking up the first package he should place and adjust a bill-blank on the carbon, as above indicated, write the description of such package on the firstline and make the check on the margin g, to indicate that the first line of the scrip -sheet has been used. Taking up a second package he sees it is for another or the same destination. Iffor another destination, he should place the bill first made in the receptacleF and take another blank, move the stop-bar forward one notch to bring the first line of the bill blank upon the second line of the scrip-sheet, and Write the description of the second package, as before, on the first line of the bill-blank. If the second pack age is for the same destination as the first, he would write its description on the second hne of the first bill-blank without shifting the stop-bar. Taking the third package for a clifferent destination from the first two the stopbar would bemoved forward two notches if the description of such second package is to be written on the first line of the bill-blank, and if two lines of the scrip-sheet have been used previously, and taking the fourth package for a still different destination and assuming that its description is to be written on the fifth line of the bill-blank and that only three lines of the scrip-sheet are used, the stop-bar would be moved backward one notch to make the fifth line of the bill-blan k fall upon the fourth line of the scrip-sheet. Continuing in this manner all the horizontal lines of the scripsheet may be used successively to copy the several lines of the various Way-bills 'on by means of the carbon as they are made out.

Having thus described lnyinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the base, of the way, the sliding piece thereon,the pivoted stop-bar and the ratchets in connection therewith, all adapted and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with the base, of the way, the sliding piece thereon provided with a bill-receptacle, as F, the stop bar having arms pivoted to the sliding piece, and ratchets in connection with said stop-bar, substantially as specified.

OTTO II. 'll-IIEL.

Witnesses:

J NO. H. WHIPPLE. WM. R. GRIsWoLD, Jr. 

